on silence [6] - words to ponder

this is the sixth in a series of blog posts on silence. see also:

on silence [1] - fragile poet | on silence [2] - in the Presence of Silence | on silence [3] - ineffable and inephotographable | on silence [4] - individually guided retreats | on silence [5] - soulwork

these are a few quotes i stumbled across on silence on my retreat

The voice of God is best heard in silence (Anthony De Mello)

If you love truth be a lover of silence... More than all things love silence: It brings you a fruit that tongue cannot describe (Isaac of Ninevah)

Filling every part of this infinity of infinity there is a silence, a silence which is not an absence of sound but which is the object of a positive sensation, more positive than that of sound. Noises if there are any only reach me after crossing the silence. (Simone Weil)

I have shown you the power of silence, how thoroughly it heals and how fully pleasing it is  to God (Desert Father Amononas)

Sometimes you have to disconnect to connect (James Martin)

this is a prayer that i breathed in and out for the first two days i think to help me slow down. i have loved this prayer for years and posted it as a worship trick way back in the first series. on the first evening of the retreat the two lines 'say nothing, ask nothing' summed up my intention for the retreat. i wasn't there for activity or even lots of words in prayer but simply to be in the Presence of Silence.

Be silent
Be still
Alone
Empty
Before your God
Say nothing
Ask nothing
Be silent
Be still
Let your God look upon you
That is all
She knows
She understands
She loves you with an enormous love
She only wants to look upon you with her love
Quiet
Still
Be

this may seem a slightly stranger one but the recent single from the villagers 'nothing arrived' first struck me when i was preparing a grace service exploring the ideas of john of the cross. he suggests that we need to let go of our desires for ambition, pleasure, knowledge, possessions and religious experience. and in doing so paradoxically find peace and union with god. i'm sure it's not quite what the villagers had in mind but it's been knocking around my head ever since and came to me several times on retreat. 

I waited for Something, and Something died
So I waited for Nothing, and Nothing arrived
It's our dearest ally, it's our closest friend
It's our darkest blackout, it's our final end
My dear sweet Nothing, let's start a new
From here all in is just me and you

I waited for Something and Something died
So I waited for Nothing, and Nothing arrived
Well I guess it's over, I guess it's begun
It's a losers' table, but we've already won
It's a funny battle, it's a constant game
I guess I was busy when Nothing came

I guess I was busy (when Nothing arrived)

bruce cockburn's song 'mystery' has some lovely lines that in the beauty of the environment i sang to myself in the silence. these are a few

You can't tell me there is no mystery
It's everywhere I turn...

Infinity always gives me vertigo
And fills me up with grace...

And don't tell me there is no mystery
It overflows my cup...

This feast of beauty can intoxicate
Just like the finest wine

and in a moment of feeling at one with the world, with god, with myself, experiencing being looked upon by the love that loves us, of union or connectedness 'gorecki' by lamb (which i last heard i think at nic's funeral or at least it will forever be associated with that in my mind) was just extraordinarily appropriate, ecstatic even as i sat on a bench in the woods 

If I should die this very moment
I wouldn't fear
For I've never known completeness
Like being here
Wrapped in the warmth of you
Loving every breath of you
Still my heart this moment
Or it might burst
Could we stay right here
Until the end of time until the earth stops turning
Wanna love you until the seas run dry
I've found the one I've waited for

All this time I've loved you
And never known your face
All this time I've missed you
And searched this human race
Here is true peace
Here my heart knows calm
Safe in your soul
Bathed in your sighs
Wanna stay right here
Until the end of time
'til the earth stops turning
Gonna love you until the seas run dry
I've found the one I've waited for

The one I've waited for 

All I've known
All I've done
All I've felt was leading to this
All I've known
All I've done
All I've felt was leading to this
Wanna stay right here
'til the end of time 'till the earth stops turning
I'm gonna love you till the seas run dry
I've found the one I've waited for
The one I've waited for

Comments

[Phil Wood]

Thanks Jonny, I've been blogging on 'Statements of Faith' this morning, so have a head full of long words. Your post on silence is timely.

Peace, Phil

[Jen]

I've found these posts really helpful thanks. The most useful thought for me has been if Love found you and blessed you during this week where you had given up 'doing' then it really must be true that we are loved just as we are, and not for how much we do or achieve.

[Gwen]

Love this post Jonny. You've found words for a profound experience.

[Patricia]

This post has been really timely for me. All the posts on silence have been helpful especially as lately I have felt as if I was trying to walk in silence in a very busy protestant work ethic sort of christianity.
Your posts have made me realise I am not alone. As you have been blessed you have truly been a blessing.